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Leyburn Library Presents Photographic Exhibit and Reception about “Ginsberg and Beat Fellows”

“Ginsberg and Beat Fellows: Photographs 1969-1997,” an exhibit of photographs taken by Gordon Ball, visiting associate professor of English, will be on display from May 4–July 13 in Leyburn Library’s Main Floor Exhibit Space at Washington and Lee University.

A reception to celebrate the photographic exhibit and photographer will be held May 10, from 4:30–5:30 p.m. in front of the exhibit area. Both the exhibit and the reception are free and open to the public.

The exhibit features candid shots of Ginsberg and fellow poets and friends over the course of nearly three decades, including novelist William S. Burroughs, poets Gregory Corso, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Anne Waldman and Andrei Voznesensky, as well as rock star Lee Ranaldo of Sonic Youth. The photos were taken at Ginsberg’s upstate New York farm, his Lower East Side apartment and the faculty swimming pool at Naropa Institute, Boulder, Colorado.

Ball’s photographs have been shown and reproduced widely, from numerous exhibitions and books, such as “The Rolling Stone Book of the Beats” to periodicals such as The New York Times Sunday magazine. The exhibit contains 21 photographs. Ball will be offering a course in Literature of the Beat Generation next winter at W&L.

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